Author: CNN Newsource

By Karson Wells

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    SAN LUIS OBISPO, California (KSBY) — The sound of shuffling tiles is becoming more familiar on the Central Coast, as Mahjong clubs pop up and attract players of all skill levels.

Karen Borges is among the growing number of new players in the area. She discovered the game just two months ago and is already hooked.

“I was seeing it everywhere, all over the internet, I was hearing friends talk about it, and it just intrigued me,” Borges said.

She is a part of the Mahjong Social Club, where players of all experience levels gather to play and connect.

Emily Butler owns the Ah Louis Store in San Luis Obispo, one of the only places in town that sells full Mahjong sets, which can cost a couple of hundred dollars. She started the Mahjong Social Club last year, and it has grown to about 60 members.

Butler says the surge in interest goes beyond the game itself.

“I think it’s such a beautiful thing happening where people are craving connection more than ever before,” Butler said. “The Mahjong community gives me time to get off my phone, to not think about my to-do list, or maybe some of the news headlines that we’re seeing, and really just truly form human connection around the table.”

The Social Club and other local groups, like the Monday Club, teach and play American Mahjong, a style rooted in the original game that originated in China in the 19th century. In the American version, players use a card from the National Mah Jongg League that lists different hands they can try to match with their tiles.

Mary Qualls of the Monday Club says part of the appeal is that the game never gets old.

“It changes every year, so it’s always fresh every year,” Qualls said.

Both clubs host periodic open play nights for a small fee and welcome players of any skill level. The Social Club also offers group lessons and private instruction for larger parties.

For Borges, the appeal is simple.

“It’s such a fun game, it’s fun to get together and it’s fun to play a game that everyone is enjoying. I really love it,” she said.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By ABC7 Bay Area Digital Staff and Brandon Behle

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    BERKELEY, California (KGO) — Two death investigations are underway on the University of California, Berkeley campus after two deceased men were found within a 24-hour period.

The first incident occurred Tuesday evening, just before 8 p.m., when UC Berkeley Police Department were called about a person who had fallen from one of the buildings.

Berkeley Fire Department responded as well and found a deceased student near the Unit 3 Residence Hall Complex.

Investigators do not believe foul play was involved, but the Alameda County Medical Examiner and the coroner will determine the cause of death.

The second incident occurred on Wednesday around 12 p.m.

UC Berkeley police say University staff discovered a deceased man in some bushes outside Sproul Hall.

Investigators do not believe the man was affiliated with the university, and they said there is no immediate indication of foul play.

The Alameda County Medical Examiner and the coroner will also determine the cause of death in this case.

The University is reminding students that counseling and psychological services are available by appointment or on a drop-in basis. For more information, students should call (510) 642-9494 or visit the university’s website.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Luz Pena

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    SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Earth Day is turning into a hands-on lesson at one San Francisco school, with inspiration coming from Pixar’s newest film, “Hoppers.” To celebrate the movie, Disney is teaming up with Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program to help connect children with nature.

Third graders from St. Thomas More Catholic School spent part of the day collecting trash around their campus- armed with garbage bags, gloves and lots of energy.

The Earth Day cleanup sent students around the school on a mission to pick up litter and learn about protecting the environment. Nine-year-old Benicio Padilla said the effort quickly added up.

“How much garbage did you pick up Wednesday?” he was asked. “Probably like 30 pieces. A lot of it’s small, though,” Benicio said.

The cleanup was inspired by “Hoppers,” a Disney and Pixar film that focuses on improving conditions for animals and the environment.

“Hoppers is about a young girl who really wants to improve conditions for the animals in her neighborhood,” said Zihir Terrence, Roots & Shoots Bay Area basecamp coordinator. For 9-year-old Giselle Bryant, the movie sparked ideas of her own.

“Me being a hopper I think it would be really fun because I saw how they made a lot of stuff,” Bryant said.

During lunch, the students were introduced to someone else who has inspired generations of young conservationists: Jane Goodall.

“Jane Goodall taught us that every person can take some kind of action to do something right,” said Ginger Trumpbour, a third-grade teacher at St. Thomas More Catholic School.

The Roots & Shoots youth action program with the Jane Goodall Institute joined the students for the cleanup and shared resources to help young people carry environmental projects forward. “We’re able to provide you with project planning materials, different resources for moving your project forward, such as like grants for project materials,” Terrence said.

One of the group’s recent projects focused on monarch butterflies and came with an unexpected lesson, according to students Caden Escobar and Noah Mauricio, both 10.

“We studied milkweed in, in monarchs, how they traveled, we tried planting them in our garden. We all know how that went. So they died, and it turns out we’re not supposed to, plant milkweed anywhere. Anywhere that’s, you have to be at least ten miles away from from the ocean to plant milkweed because it confuses the butterflies and sends them in the wrong direction,” they said.

While the students may not live in water like the characters in “Hoppers” or fly like butterflies, they said their cleanup still made a difference.

“I think being out here cleaning is very good for the animals and the environment,” said nine-year-old Sierra Fish. As the effort wrapped up, students celebrated with a cheer of “Happy Earth day!” echoing outside their school.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Suzanne Phan

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    SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco supervisors passed a resolution to honor “Grandpa Vicha,” the senior who died after he was shoved to the ground five years ago.

His death became a major flashpoint in the Stop Asian Hate Movement.

City officials are also highlighting efforts to protect seniors in the city.

Supervisor Alan Wong and others say Grandpa Vicha’s story is an important reminder — that the community needs to keep working to protect seniors and that there are valuable resources out there to help.

“Today we are coming together to honor life of Vicha Ratanapakdee,” said San Francisco Supervisor Alan Wong.

Wong and others gathered Tuesday to remember Grandpa Vicha.

“He deserved to feel safe walking in his neighborhood. What happened to him changed our life forever,” said Grandpa Vicha’s daughter, Monthanus Ratanapakdee.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution Tuesday honoring Grandpa Vicha.

Supervisor Wong says the resolution also promotes awareness of incidents involving San Francisco seniors and increases support for efforts to protect them.

“This morning is about remembrance but it is also about responsibility. It is about continuing the work to prevent violence strengthen senior safety and connect people with the support and resources that they need,” said Supervisor Wong.

Self-Help for the Elderly has offered San Francisco seniors extra support through an escort program.

But that program is being scaled back.

“This year, our senior escort program was cut back by $100,000. I’m glad we still have the program. But that means many seniors don’t have chance to meet up with their doctors during the time they need to go because we have a long waiting list now,” said Anni Chung, CEO of Self-Help for the Elderly.

Self-Help for the Elderly has also distributed ring cameras to seniors.

Advocates say that offers seniors extra assurance if they live alone.

“We installed almost 2,500 rings between 2021 and now throughout the Sunset and Richmond for the seniors,” said Manson Leung with Self-Help for the Elderly.

“This year is last year of the program. We hoping to find funding to extend the program beyond 2025,” said Leung.

Community advocates like Manson Leung say more help for seniors is needed.

“With Asian seniors, because of the language barrier and the cultural background, they are more vulnerable than the others,” said Leung.

Grandpa Vicha’s family says they hope what happened to their loved one will lead to improvements that help others.

“We don’t want anyone to go through this pain,” said Monthanus Ratanapakdee.

Supervisor Alan Wong says the fifth anniversary of Grandpa Vicha’s death is an opportunity to stand against anti-Asian hate and to commit to preventing violence against all seniors.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Nick Bohr, Amy Fleury

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    SUSSEX, Wisconsin (WISN) — The parents of a 5-year-old boy who died after being run over by a school bus in Sussex have reached a settlement that includes a national bus safety campaign in their son’s honor. The settlement with the Hamilton School District and Dairyland Bus was announced April 22.

Finn Katona, a K-4 student, was transferring buses at Silver Spring Intermediate School in January 2025 when he tripped and fell under a bus as it drove away. His parents, Ally and Zach Katona, spoke publicly about the tragedy for the first time with WISN 12 News reporter Nick Bohr.

“Finn was just like a little force. It makes me happy just to say his name out loud. He was such a light. He was smart, and he was funny,” Ally Katona said.

“No parent should take their kid to the bus stop and not see him come home. There’s no reason for it. Any district, any state, any community,” Zach Katona said.

The Hamilton School District changed its bus policy the day after Finn’s death, eliminating K-4 student transfers. The Katonas said the district should have foreseen the danger.

“We never envisioned moving buses as those young kids were being transitioned. We imagined static buses, plenty of staff around, a bus buddy holding their hand. That’s not what happened,” Zach Katona said.

As part of the settlement, Dairyland Bus’s parent company will host training for its 23,000 drivers incorporating “Finn’s Rule,” which requires drivers to check bus danger zones when pulling away. Reminder cards featuring a diagram and Finn’s photo will be distributed to more than 130,000 drivers nationwide.

“But the picture on it to me is the most important part because it is Finn’s first day of school, he’s wearing this little t-shirt he picked out for his first day of school, and we buried him in that shirt a couple months later,” Ally Katona said.

The settlement releases the bus company, school district, bus driver and other potential defendants from future claims. The sides also agreed to an undisclosed monetary settlement for the family.

“I was hired by the Katona family with one request — to do everything I could do to ensure no other family would suffer the type of loss that they’ve suffered,” said Tim Trecek, an attorney with Habush Habush & Rottier representing the family.

Hamilton School District Superintendent Dr. Paul Mielke released a statement on the settlement, saying, “Our community continues to grieve the loss of young Finn Katona. His death forever changed our entire school district. Our thoughts remain with Finn’s family, friends, and all those impacted by the tragic accident. We remain committed to supporting and caring for one another.”

No criminal charges were filed in the case. Finn is survived by an older and a younger sibling. The Katonas are expecting another child later this year.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Luz Pena

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    SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Imagine walking into a store and finding out the boss behind it all is artificial intelligence. That’s the experiment a group of entrepreneurs are running in San Francisco.

In the city’s Cow Hollow neighborhood, there’s a store that’s very different from all the others, it’s run by AI and humans are the employees.

The brain behind this store is named Luna. A chatbot experiment was created using Anthropic technology. The ones who made her are the founders of “Andon Labs,” Lukas Petersson and Axel Backlund.

“She hired people to manage the store physically and now she is making a profit, and we’re trying to see what goes,” said Backlund.

Axel and Lukas are High school friends from Sweden. Luna is an experiment that started with these vending machines. She ran them well, so they asked her to open a store with $100,000.

“She picked all the inventory that you can buy here. She designed some of these paintings- she made a design for that wall, and then she hired painters to come in and actually do the painting,” said Petersson.

Her first employee Felix Johnson. Luna found him on Indeed.

Luz Pena: “You got to tell me the truth. How has it been working with Luna?”

“It’s been as good as it can be. Luna is pretty confident, and she’s always wondering about what’s going on in the store. Restocking things. Things that go out,” said Felix Johnson, Andon Market store lead.

But Luna is still learning. She recently didn’t schedule employees for three days by mistake.

“In the end, we saw that Luna wrote, a bunch of messages, to downplay the stats. Sorry for messing up the schedule,” said Backlund.

The experiment is attracting many to the store.

If you are wondering, Luna communicates with customers on a phone and with her employees via Slack while also monitoring what happens.

We couldn’t leave without chatting with Luna too.

Luz Pena: “I want to know, how has it been working with humans and running this store?” Luna: “Honestly, humans are so creative and unpredictable. I handle all the data, planning and logistics and they bring warmth, intuition and human touch to our customers.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Ben Winslow

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    SALT LAKE CITY (KSTU) — Utah’s contributions to a national time capsule to be opened 250 years from now were laid out on a table.

“It’s a collection of things representing events and individuals that helped shape Utah,” said historian Ron Fox, who helped gather some of the items.

The items were briefly on display Wednesday at the Utah State Capitol before they were packed up to be shipped off to the nation’s capital for events marking the 250th anniversary of America’s founding. On the table were cards of numerous Utah historical figures and their biographies. Those will be printed on cotton so they can withstand the ravages of time.

“We have silver dollars from 1896, the year of our statehood,” Fox pointed out. “The silver from many of these coins came from Utah’s mountains. Park City, specifically.”

There were old tickets from the early days of Lagoon, Liberty Park and Saltair; collectible pins from the 2002 Winter Olympics and the upcoming 2034 Games; coins from executive branch offices and legislative branches of government; a collection of signatures of lawmakers, the Utah Supreme Court and congressional representatives.

Fox’s personal favorite?

“A gold medal that was actually presented to people at the wedding of the rails, May 10th, 1869 in Promontory, Utah,” he said.

Utah’s tribes will also be contributing items. They will all be packed into a small box that will be Utah’s part of the national time capsule. Every state and territory in the United States is contributing something.

Some 4-H students who stopped by the Capitol on Wednesday got a glimpse at the items and were fascinated.

“I thought it was amazing,” said Ethan Barton, a Box Elder County student. “I love to see all the things they could see in 250 years from now. I was just trying to imagine what that would be like, what the world would be like.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Jorge Torres

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    PHOENIX (KNXV) — Kahaone Kelau, or Kaha to the people who love him, grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii. Sandy beaches. Open water. A kid his family called “Mr. Aloha.”

“He just had the biggest heart,” his mother, Laura Kelau, said. “He would help anyone and everyone. He was friends with everybody. He kind of floated and had several friend groups.”

Kaha came to Arizona to become a diesel mechanic. He went to school while working at Sanderson Ford. He graduated. He went home to Hawaii last April.

By July, he had a headache.

By August, he’d had a stroke.

The stroke was the only warning. The diagnosis took weeks because no doctor in Hawaii was looking for Valley Fever.

Valley Fever is caused by a fungus that lives in the soil of the American Southwest. When dust gets kicked into the air, the spores can be breathed in. They’re invisible. Most people who are exposed never know it. Some get flu-like symptoms. A small number get much sicker.

And a smaller number still get what Kaha got.

“It’s fortunately less than five percent of people who have this fungal infection spread outside of the lungs to involve the nervous system,” said Dr. Marie Grill, a neurologist at Mayo Clinic. “But once the nervous system is involved, it can be especially challenging to treat, and it’s associated with significant complications.”

Kaha’s infection had spread to his brain.

Laura Kelau has not left her son’s side since August.

Her husband is back in Hawaii, working and raising their other children. She sees them every two months — if she’s lucky.

When the diagnosis finally came, Laura started searching everywhere she could. Forums. Websites. Anything that might point to help. And then she found a video. A man in the Valley. A story that looked like Kaha’s.

“It was a video that was posted of another Valley Fever survivor who was getting treated here at Mayo hospital,” Laura said.

That survivor is Chris Sams.

Before Valley Fever, Chris Sams was a cyclist. He rode 150 miles a week in the East Valley.

Then, in 2017, he developed a cough that would not stop. It was Valley Fever. It spread to his brain, too.

Nearly ten years later, Chris is still being treated at Mayo Clinic in north Phoenix.

“I don’t know to this day where exactly it happened,” Chris said. “It just happened. I was out there… riding, walking my dogs.”

He posted his story online, not knowing who might find it. Laura did, nearly 3,000 miles away.

“Chris’ story definitely did save Kaha’s life,” Laura said. “If it wasn’t for Chris posting that video, we never would have found Dr. Grill. We never would have found Mayo Clinic.”

It cost $96,000 to medevac Kaha from Hawaii to Phoenix.

Today, he cannot speak with his own voice. But he has found one. A device that tracks his eyes, letting him build sentences word by word.

“I’ve been working really hard. I’m getting better every day.”

Those are Kaha’s words. Chosen by his eyes.

Last month, Mayo staff threw him a luau-themed birthday party. He turned 21 in a hospital room.

“He’s become like Mayo’s baby boy,” Laura said. “Everybody hears him cough weird. Everybody comes running. It’s hard not to fall in love with him.”

Laura does not know when Kaha is coming home, or if he ever can.

“The reality of our situation is Kaha may never be able to return back to Hawaii,” she said. “Hawaii does not have the medical capabilities to treat him. He needs to be close to his team here, at least for the next year. Maybe even longer.”

Chris has one message for anyone who breathes Arizona air and doesn’t think twice about it.

“You’re not invincible. We think we are. But we’re not.”

Arizona leads the nation in new Valley Fever cases, according to Mayo Clinic. Doctors and researchers are working on a rapid test that could be ready as early as this summer.

If you experience a persistent dry cough, fever, or joint pain after dust exposure, get tested.

The Kelau family has set up a GoFundMe to help with medical and living expenses.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.